"THE THING" (1982)

PRODUCERS: David Foster

larch4, 1931 Lawrence Turrnan

CO-PRODUCER: Stuart Cohen EXEC. PRODUCER: ~Jil burStark DIRECTOR: John Car1Jenter

THE THING

Second Draft Screenplay

by

BILL LANCASTER

From The Story

HHO GOES THERE.

by

DON A. STUART

mm #00477

THE THING

CAST

MAC READY - 35. Helicopter pilot. Likes chess. Hates

the cold. The pay is good.

GARRY - 46. The station manager. Stiff. Ex-army officer.

Wears a handgun.

CHILDS - 33. Six-four. Two-fifty. Black. A mechanic.

Can be jolly. But don't mess.

BLAIR - 50. Senior biologist. Edgy. Inquisitive.

Overworked.

FUCHS - 25. Sensitive. Intelligent. Unassuming. An

assistant biologist.

DR. COPPER - 45. Professional. A decent man. A good

doctor.

PALMER - 27. Second string chopper pilot. Crack mechanic.

Long hair. Slight sixties acid damage.

NAULS - 22. The cook. Bright. Black.

Irreverent. But kindhearted. Roller skates.

NORRIS - 44. Stocky. Rugged looking. A geophysicist.

An incipient heart condition.

BENNINGS - 38. A meteorologist. Dutiful. An old pro.

CLARK - 24. The dog handler. Likes it here. Good

at his job.

SANCHEZ - 21. The radio operator. Hates it here. Lousy

at his job.

In the winter of 1982 these men were commissioned by the United States National Science Foundation to gather data concerning the physical and natural sciences on the contine~t of hntarctica.

mm #00477

THE THING

i

THE MAIN COMPOUND OF U.S. OUTPOST #31

t The interior is a cramped and never ending maze of hallways, pass~geways and doors which connect the many rooms and com- partments within the compound. Sturdy, but prefabricated materials have been used in its construction.

( There is a laboratory. An infirmary. A kitchen and mess hall. A com.~unicationsroom and sleeping quarters. Other cubicles are for storage and supplies.

The most spacious area of the building, and the main center of activity, is the Rec Room. Of the many entrance ways to this room can be seen the small work chambers with their sophisticated computers and other scientific equipment.

The below quarter houses the generator and still other compartments for storage.

A long underground tunnel connects the main compound to the dog ke~nel.

jd #00477

THE THING

l A STARRY BLACKNESS l

From out of the billions, the smallest of specks drives slowly forward. It closes; getting larger; its features becoming more identifiable: a vessel. Flip-flopping; out of ( control. Its stern roaring with flame. It passes; its blue fire surging into screen.

"THE THING"

A thundering .... (

FADE TO

2 A BLIND AND FERAL WHITENESS 2

... Glacial desert ... gustsofsnow ... superimpose:

ANTARCTICA 1982 WINTER

3 A SOUND 3

Loud and strident. A helicopter streaks across frame. It travels precariously close to the ground; its chassis battered and·swayed by the wind. ·

Red dials beam on the faces of two men. One carries a rifle and searches the horizon with binoculars. The other pilots. Their unkempt faces, their blazen eyes notate a wildness. They bark at each other in some Scandinavian tongue. Two men arguing like mad and desperate children.

The man with the binoculars sights something.

It turns and snarls at the craft some fifteen hundred vards to its rear. Then whirls and gallops off. A gun blast kicks up snow at its heels.

jd #00477 2

Another blast of rifle fire as the man takes issue with his prey. The pilot slams a fist into his gunman friend and implores for better aim. The craft swoops lower and the engine is put into full throttle.

running feverishly up and over a hill of ice. A weather- beaten, wooden sign sticks up on the other side: U.S. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION OUTPOST #31.

A rifle blast kicks up more snow.

A large, almost snow-covered building. Not far from that a tall, meteorological balloon tower.

A scattering of several small shacks at varying distances from the main compound. The smaller hovels are connected bv wooden planked walkways and steadying ropes. Multicolored oennants stick out of the snow marking pathways and directions to outdoor experiments.

A tractor and two helicopters sit idle, covered with mounds of continuously mounting snow.

9 TWO .MEN,NORRIS AND BENNINGS 9

standing some thirty yards from the main building are in the process of letting up a large red balloon. Childs, a hefty black man, is twenty yards away tinkering with a snowmobile. Their beards are caked with ice. It is winter and it is harsh.

The faint sound of the copter turns t;heir attention.

10 THE COPTER 10

flying even lower now. The man with the gun leans dangerously outside and fires away at the dog as it nears the outpost.

11 THE MEN 11

outside the compound look to one another, incredulous.

l jd #00477 3

12 THE COPTER 12

much too low now, and chastised by the wind, attemots a high- ( speed landing, directly on the heels of the sprinting dog. It bounces violently on the hard-packed surface. Once. Twice. Passing the.dog.

A third bounce sends it skidding. It flips; its blades snapping off like toothpicks. It lands belly-up, soundless l except for the whine of its engine.

The man with the gun rolls out before the explosion.

1,3 INT. MAIN COMPOUND 13 ( The half a dozen men, playing cards, monitoring equipment, listening to music -- spring to their feet, startled.

The dog reaches Norris and Bennings, as they awkwardly wade through the snow, toward the downed copter.

l5 THE SURVIVOR 15

~

of the crash, his eyes crazed with determination, struggles to his feet. Heedless of his companion, he double-times his way to the men and the dog. He reloads his gun and bellows in his Scandinavian tongue.

Norris and Bennings have no idea what he is saying.

The survivor waves his arm as if shooing them off, screaming as he does so; his face now caked with blood.

The two men are bewildered. The dog jumps up, licking and pawing them, imploring for safety.

Blam!! The visitor fires. The men jump back in disbelief.

Blam! Blam! The crazed visitor screams and fires as he stalks after them. His countenance ablaze, mad. Ice and snow kick up about the terrified Americans. A bullet smacks into the dog's hip, sending it skidding and howling in pain.

jd #00477 4

Childs, the black man by the snowmobile, takes cover, diving t behind his machine.

Bennings is hit. Norris pulls, drags him back toward the compound. The dog crawls along beside them.

The intruder is relentless in his assail. He runs, screaming, ( firing, screaming, reloading and firing.

( Total confusion. Some watch helplessly through the small, fogged-up and translucent windows. Others try to mobilize, grabbing for their heavy jackets.

17 CLOSE ON A .357 MAGNUM 17

as it efficiently breaks through a windowpane and into the cold. A steady hand grips it firmly.

18 THE SCANDINAVIAN 18

getting closer. Kablam! Suddenly, his head jerks back. He falls to his knees and then face down into the snow.

19 NORRIS AND BENNINGS 19

stare blankly, but relievedly at the fallen man. The dog whimpers in pain.

20 CHILDS 20

pokes his head out from under the snowmobile.

The rul1lblingof voicesfades. The men adjust their eyes to station manager Garry, as he extracts his gun from the broken window, relieves it of its spent shell and puts it away.

CUT TO

jd #00477 5

Several men spray snow on the burning wreckage. There is no hope for the pilot.

CUT TO

INTRUDER

A neat round hole is set in the middle of his forehead. Station manager Garry holds up something akin to an ID.

Fuchs, a young and sensitive-looking biologist, stands closest to the large area map of Antartica. Several men sit and stand around viewing the body that lies on two brought-together card- tables.

Garry directs his attention to Childs, the large black who had been working on the snowmobile. Next to him sits Norris, the rugged-looking, fortyish, geophysicist, who was one of the men being shot at.

Garry motions inquiringly to Norris.

jd #00477 6

Dr. Copper, mid-forties, works on the outstretched leg of Bennings, the meteorologist. Clark, the dog handler, is mending the hip of the wounded dog off in the corner. Bennings lets out with an ouch.

( It just grazed you.

He helps a shaken Bennings up off the table.

Stir crazy. Cabin fever •••Who knows.

The dog yelps and whimpers as Clark tries to calm him.

Blair, senior biologist, fifty, balding, leans against the entrance door.

He looks on as the young, bored-looking radio operator, Sanchez, attends to his equipment. Bursts of static.

jd #00477 7 (

Nauls, the cook, glides along on his roller skates down one of the many narrow hallways that connect the various compart- ( ments of the main compound. He is black, a little mischievous, about twenty-two.

He comes to a flashy skidding stop at one of the entrances to the rec room area, where the men are gathered with the dead Norwegian.

NAULS

'

Maybe we at war with Norway.

Palmer, a spacy, twenty-seven year old, novice pilot and mechanic, grins as he lights a joint. He directs a remark to t station manager Garry.

Garry rebukes him with a stern look and then turns to Fuchs.

Dr. Copper enters the room. Bennings limping after him slightly.

Palmer smiles and flips thecook the bird.

jd #00477 8

• The men's attention turns to Copper. '

( own before they got to us.

Garry still does not much like the idea. Palmer takes another hit off his joint.

t km #00477 9

GARRY (Cont'd)

( (turns)

Norris, go get MacReady.

Slight laughter from some of the men.

NORRIS

( (grins)

MacReady ain't going nowhere. Bunkered in.till spring.

(

( 27 EXT. U.S. OUTPOST #31 27

Norris, bundled in his sixty-five pounds or clothing, exits the main compound. He walks the prefab wooden planks up the precipice; his destination is some one hundred yards up the slope -- to a shack. He grabs onto the steadying ropes and pulls himself against the wind and blowing sleet.

being dumped into a glass, followed by the pouring of whiskey. An electronic Voice is heard.

VOICE Bishop to knight four.

MacReady tdkes a sip of his drink; makes his wav over to his electronic chess game. A large Mexican sombrero hangs on his back. He is tall; about thirty-five. His shack is sparse but unkempt. A few centerfolds on the wall are interspersed by an occasional poster of some Mediterranean or South American paradise.

The chess game is of larger than normal size. The pieces move automatically with the press of a button. He sits down and chuckles over his opponent's bad move.

l #00477 10 km

He confidently taps out his move. His companion's response (. is immediate.

VOICE Pawn takes queen at knight four.

MacReady's grin slowly fades as he examines the board. There is a pounding at his door. MacReady broods for a bit, heed- less of his visitor and makes his next move.

VOICE (continuing)

(

Rook to knight six. Check.

More impatient pounding. MacReady glares at his opponent for a beat. He bends forward, opens up a flap containing the chess game's circuitry and pours in his drink. There ensues a snapping, popping sound as smoke and sparks rise from the machine; followed by a flush of chess gibberish.

MacReady gets up from his seat, mumbling on his way to the door.

He opens the door. Norris steps in followed by a flurry of snow and wind.

One of the grounded choppers is being readied for take-off. Childs holds a huge industrial torch to the engine, warming it up.

tv #00477 11

Garry, Bennin9s, Dr. Copper, Palmer and l1acReady wind their way through theslender corridors on their way to the chopper. Dr. Copper carries a satchel of medical supplies. MacReady, going over his flight chart, looksmad as hell. Dialogue overlaps.

MAC READY GARRY ... Craziness ... ... Quit the griping ( This is goddamn in- MacReady. Sooner sane .... you're there -- sooner

you're back.

1ACREADY It's against regulations to go up

l

this time of year!

1ACREADY (to Bennings) Hhat is it out there, anyway? Forty-five knots?

tv #00477 12

Dr. Copper sits next to l~cReady, who is at the controls .

and starts up its choking engine.

MacReady fights violently with the controls as he struggles to get the craft into the air. It finally rights itself and moves up and off into the grey-white sky.

A couple of the men mingle in the area. Clark, the dog handler, looks out the window.

The dog, a large bandage on his hip, wades through the room. Under tables. Past men's legs. It hobbles slightly. No one takes notice.

CUT TO

33 •EXT. THE CHOPPER 33

moves over a ridge of ice. Columns of smoke can be seen rising ominously from a quarter mile off.

As they near, the smoke looms thicker. A black, tar-like gush; billowing up into the grey sky from the whiteness below.

Smoke climbs upward in the f.g. MacReady sets his craft down. Pull back to reveal the camp itself: resembling the aftermath of a western fort, sacked and ravaged by Indians.

Small fires and debris are strewn everywhere. The prefab Administration Building exposes gaping holes. Smoke rises from the almost entirely snow-buried Quonset huts. Embers swirl in every direction.

36 IHT. CHOPPER 36

The two men look at each other in silence. They get out.

( tv #00477 13

37 CLOSE ON A LARGE, MAKESHIFT FUNERAL PYRE 37

smoldering to a close. A hastily conceived crematorium. ( l~od, books, furniture, tires, anything that will burn has been mixed together with the charred remains of several dogs and the body of a man.

Curious mounds of a melted and blackened goo are heaped within the mess. ( A small can of gasoline lies nearby. A large oil drum not far off.

33 llACREADY AND COPPER 38 ( their faces ashen as they take in this grotesque sight. HacReady turns to view the Norwegian compound. He then exchanges a look with Copper. MacReady heads back toward the chopper.

( 39 THE CHOPPER 39

MacReady unhinges the shotgun that is latched to the panel behind the seats.

NacReady and Dr. Copper stand hesitantly amidst the wisps of snow and embers. MacReady tries the door. It is unlocked. He slowly pushes it'open with his gun. A creaking. A long pitch-black corridor. Copper shines a flashlight.

No answer. Just wind. They exchange a look and enter.

The two men move slowly. It is dank and cold. Their breath, bleating like exhaust. A soft, steady wind howls overhead. The flashlight is not much help.

Further down, they hear a faint hissing sound. As they get closer it more resembles static. The flashlight finds a ~oor at the end of. the corridor. The sputtering static comes from within.

tv #00477 14

The face of the door has been shredded. An ax sticks out from its middle. l~cReady wrenches out the ax. There is blood on it. The men acknowledge this for a beat. MacReady tries the knob. It opens slightly. Something is blocking it from the other side.

UAC READY

{

Anybody in there?!

Nothing.

Nothing.

( MacReady pushes against the door.

They push, shove, grunt. The door gives a bit. Finally more. It widens enough for l1acReady to see thata large computer- like machine is blocking their path. MacReady wedges in and shines the flashlight.

It is the communications room. Holes in its roof have allowed in the freezing cold. The flashlight exposes the back of the radio chair. One more nudge allows them into the room.

A beat as they catch their breath. MacReady spots a Coleman lantern. Ile lights it witha match. Holds it up. The brighter light exposes the top of a man's head sitting in the radio chair.

The chair rocks slightly with the gentle breeze. They inch closer. A yard from the chair, MacReady stops the Doctor. lie pokeshis gun at the chair's back.

( tv ~00477

Dr. Copper spots something. From the man's wrist on the l armrest, he follows a long, yarn-thick, red line, ending in a pool of frozen blood on the floor.

The two men step aro~nd the chair. The Norwegian stares up in blanched death. A gaping black hole for a mouth. His throat and wrists slit. An old-fashioned straight razor in his lap.

MacReady turns off the hissing radio, and marches to the other door. It is locked and barricaded.

The two men free a machine-like obstacle from the other exit. -tacReady openslock and pushesthe door open. Hore blackness. Stronger wind. Copper holds the lantern high as they make their way down a row of wooden steps and into a cavernous, underground causeway.

\-/hap!! !!!Something slapsinto. the Doctor's facefrom the darkness. The lantern crashes to the ground. The Doctor stumbles, falls. MacReady grabs the flashlight and whirls in different directions. A panting beat. Silence.

Dr. Copper holds up what hit him. A thick centerfold, buf- feted by the wind. MacReady takes it.

tv #00477 16

The supporting beams have long since buckled and cracked from the constantly moving ice underneath. The evidence of fire has further weakened the foundations. The wood creaks over- head. Bits of ice and silt trickle down.

The· twomen walk haunched, cautious. MacReady gingerly tries to make his way around a broken and smoldering beam. He brushes it gently sending a shower of debris from the yawning roof.

The two men wait until it subsides and then move on.

Further down. MacReady's knee bumps into something along the wall, causing him to stumble slightly. He shines his i light on it.

An arm is sticking out of a steel door about three feet off the ground. The door has been slammed shut. The arm pinned. its fist still gripping a small welding torch. The flame long since gone out.

He tries the door. Unlocked. It opens. The arm drops to the ground. It had been severed by the force of the slam. Its owner is nowhere to be seen.

MacReady, sickened, coughs. Dr. Copper mumbles.

They step over the arm and into another slim passageway. Moving along they come to rest in front of a door with Norwegian lettering on it.

MacReady pushes it open with his foot. Dozens of papers fly about, flailed by the holes in the Quonset hut-style roof. The place is a wreck. They enter. l1acReadysurveying the small room with his flashlight.

Broken beakers, test tubes, a microscope are illuminated. MacReady notices a video camera.

ps #00477 17

42 CONTINUED

Copper makes his way over to the main work table. He shuffles through papers, glancing at the writing.

Dr. Copper bends down and begins gathering the papers, strewn about the room.

DR. CO:,:>PER Could be important work. Might as well bring it back.

He exits. Amongst the rubble, Dr. Copper finds a pocket tape recorder and several cassettes. He selects a tape and is about to pop it in when he senses something to his rear. He turns. Looks. A beat. Nothing.

MacReady shoves himself into another room.

Debris and wood flush down on him. ~he receding ceiling had been blocking the door from above. He brushes his coat and shines the light upwards.

The ceiling is a shambles. He then shines the light deeper into the room.

Dr. Copper is playing the small tape recorder. A casual Norwegian voice drones on as if making notes. He fast forwards. The same casual drone.

( ps #00477 18

Dr. Copper enters, squeezing in, through the door. The wood cracks overhead. More debris comes falling down.

Copper dusts himself. MacReady stands before a huge block ( of ice. Fifteen feet long. Six feet wide. Four feet tall.

It has partially melted, but its thawing process has been stopped by the now freezing temperatures within the outpost.

Its one curious feature: the middle has been thawed and scuppered out. Giving it the appearance of a large bathtub. The two men study it uncomprehendingly.

MacReady's gaze turns to a large metal cabinet at his left. He moves for a closer look. Several photographs are pasted to its door. Small snapshots of the Norwegians at work and r play. .

He tries to open it. Stuck. The partially caved-in ceiling is slightly blocking the top of the door. He tries again, careful not to dislodge the wood and plaster above. Bits of dust float down.

His grip is too strong. It gives suddenly, unexpectedly. The large metal door flies open.

Large chunks splash from the ceiling. They come thumping to the floor, behind and in front of the open cabinet door. MacReady coughs and waves away the dust. He peers inside. Nothing much. Some empty shelves. Some small scientific gear.

His flashlight then locates a large photograph taped to the inside of the cabinet door.

It is a picture of five Norwegians, arm in arm, all smiles, toasting each other. They are on either side of the frozen block of ice, pridefully displaying it for the camera. The block looksmuch thicker. Its interior opaque.

MacReady looks to the block of ice and then back to the photo- graph. He untapes it, pockets it and shuts the door.

t ps 1100477 19

An armless corpse swings into his face from behind the closing l door. Dislodged from the ceiling, the body and MacReady go

CUT TO

(

The loud beat of Warren Zevon's song, "The Werewolves of London," can be heard throughout the compound. The room is empty. Close on a video pong game, its ball of light lazily traveling back and forth. The dog, its tail wagging, its bandage on, walks by.

Zevon's record is blastinq from Nauls' stereo. He skates from the big walk-in freezer and plunks down a large side of beef on the wood-cuttir,g table tothaw. He skates from pot to pan keeping time with his sounds.

He smells. Tastes. Adds a little something here, a touch there. He clearly enjoy$ his work.

Station Manager Garry stops past the open door.

He skates over and turns it down, but not much.

Garry enters and sees that Sanchez has nodded off in front of his receiver. His headgear is still on. Garry walks over and turns up the vclume, the static jolting Sanchez awake.

ps f/00477 20

An empty hallway. Larger than most. Doors to several sleep- ing quarters on either side. The dog slowly walks through.

One of the doors is open up ahead to his left. The dog stops in front of it and looks in. Someone is inside.

Inside the small cubicle, a slight portion of a man's back can be seen as he sits bent over a chair; his large shadow displayed on the wall.

Back in the corridor. The dog looks up the hall once and 1 casually to the other end. No one. He enters the room. \The sound of a man's voice, too indistinct to tell whose, mumbles a, "Hello boy." A beat.

The sound of a glass breaking. A muffled scuff.ling. The door is slammed shut from the inside. And then silenc~__-_J

CUT TO

Fuchs, the young biologist, is finishing up his daily jog around the compound. He stops at the end o( a long Quonset

ps #00477 21

'

hut almost completely buried in the snow. The hut is fifty { yards long and connects to the main compound. He enters a tunnel from a latch door up top.

{ He jogs down the steps, passing the underground dog kennel and trots toward the compound through the long narrow tunnel. He passes and waves to Clark, who rolls along a wheelbarrow of dog food.

53 CLARK 53

opens the door to the small kennel and serves up the dinner. The dogs, about seven of them, yelp and bark eagerly.

near the fuel supply bladders. Older and more rickety than the quarters above.

Childs waltzes through, humming, a big smile on his face. He stops at a door with six locks on it. Different kinds. Combination locks, key locks, etc. He opens each one separately.

Inside are several mariJuana plants. Sun lamps beam down on them. Childs inspects them with a wide grin.

Hemoves over to a tape deck, selects a cassette, grins back at the plants and turns it on.

COIJ'i'INUED

( lb #00477 22

He waters them carefully, as Al Green sings softly. He hears ( a panting and turns around to see the dog. His bandage is gone.

The dog is shooed off. Childs turns back grumbling.

(

... Comin'in here ... goin'to urinate on my babies.

t Blair passing through, holding a chart and carrying a rack of test tubes, notices a large bandage on the floor. He picks it up, inquiringly. It is mangled and shredded.

Palmer works on the generator. He hears the sound of approaching propeller blades from outside. And then the sound of his tool box crashing to the floor. He turns to see what caused the ruckus.

The dog, who has entered the shed, has jumped on the work table and upended the tool box in its eagerness to look out of the above window. Palmer curses under his breath and calls out.

58 THE DOG 58

It paws at the window and watches as the chopper, carrying MacRcady and Dr. Copper, fights against the newly arrived heavy winds and lands safely.

nk #00477 23

59 I~T. STATION ~.ANAGERGARRY'S QUARTERS 59

Garry, MacReady, Dr. Copper, Norris, Bennings, Blair and his assistant, Fuchs, are present. The small Norwegian video unit has been set up and its contents are being viewed on a TV screen. Grainy, home movie-ish, no sound. The proceed- ings are grim.

Shots of the Norwegians at work. Others of them playing [ soccer on ice. Generally the footage is a prosaic record of their day-to-day life.

Norris shuffles the bundle of notes Dr. Copper brought back with him.

MacReady, working on the video machine, answers.

The present footage is a shot of them all naked and probably drunk, holding a sign across their waists as they stand out- doors in super-freezing weather.

lb #00477 24 l

MacReady turns on the light and shuts off the video machine. He then slides the portable tape deck across the table to l Dr. Copper. They exchange a look.

( some of these cassettes on the

way back. (somberly) Like you gentlemen to hear it.

A Norwegian voice drones on calmly, making verbal notes. Norris shrugs.

Dr. Copper fast forwards. The calm voice continues. And then a loud blast, followed by a pounding. The sounds of confusion. Voices. Loud. Frenetic. Men's feet running up and down wooden floorboards. A gurglinq. A hissing. Screams. And then a screeching. I-loreblastsmixed with the din of wild, carnage-wrought cries. And then more screeching. A screeching unlike anything these men have ever heard.

The men look from one another in silence as they listen. Dr. Copper turns it off.

lb #0 04 7 7 25

Dr. Copper taps the tape deck pensively.

( DR. COPPER

Maybe.

He glances at MacReady, and then back to the others.

DR. COPPER

( (continuing)

There's something else we want you to see.

( Dr. Copper and MacReady begin dumping the heavy contents of a large plastic trash bag onto the slab.

( Displayed on the slab is what appears to be the corpse of a man. Badly charred. What is left of the trousers and shoes of the bottom torso are ripped and split, as if his legs and feet had burst from the inside. His upper body is an almost undecipherable gnarled mass of protoplasmic mush.

The head is strangely disfigured and looks larger than normal. It is situated not on its shoulders but near the abdomen. Tendon-like appendages are wrapped around the carcass and sticking up and out in odd postures. One is wrapped around the body's left leg.

The shirt has been ripped and lies shredded in the tar-like mess.

The men grimace.

Blair, sickened but fascinated, pokes at the tendon-like things and the tarry goo.

km #00477 26

Foosball. Nauls and Clark are going at it hot and heavy.

< Sanchez sits off in a corner thumbing through an old issue of Photoplay.

Bennings, Norris and Garry are engaged in a card game. Bennings is about to play a cardwhen he feels something under the table. He looks. It is the dog.

(

larger than most of the other rooms and well-equipped. Dr, Cooper isperforming an autopsy on the Norwegian intruder, ( killed early that morning.

Blair sits over his microscope, while Fuchs prepares slides. The other body is draped with a sheet, waiting its turn. Dr. Copper pulls off his gloves.

r

Clark leads the dog through the long, cold tunnel toward the kennel. A new dressing has been placed on its hi?.

He unlatches the door to the kennel and leads him in.

About twenty feet long, five feetwide. Poorly lit. Cram?ed with dogs. Some of them sleeping. Others pacing around and

km #00477 27

curious, greet their new companion, sniffing, panting and rubbing up against him. Clark pats the dog and several others, ( then leaves, latching the door behind him.

( Childs lies in his cot watching a small television. The show is a tape of an American TV game show. He has seen this one too many times, extracts the cassette and injects another game show.

Palmer is stretched out in the other cot, reading a comic book ( and smoking a joint. Childs beckons for it and takes a hit.

A small area, just off the rec room. Set up like a bar. MacReady is alone looking over the rest of the videotapes from the Norwegian outpost. Mundane to esoteric chores of Antarctic camp life •.He looks bored.

Blair, hovering over the microscope, lays in a slide, focuses and motions for Dr. Copper to take a look.

Copper is confused as he examines. He shrugs.

Fuchs takes the opportunity to look. Blair moves over to the disfigured corpse and indicates one of the fibrous, tendon- like appendages.

Fuchs is befuddled as he examines.

km #00477 28 (

l

BLAIR

C I'm not sure it is any kind of

cell structure. Biologically. speaking.

( This really isn't my field, Blair.

Let's wrap for the day.

Dr. Copper undoes his lab coat and lays.it over a chair as he exits. Blair stares down ominously at the mutiliated body.

A steady stream of sleet pounds the compound and small sur- rounding shacks.

Vacant. The wall clock reads four-thirty.

Sleeping cubicles on either side. The sound of snoring.

Bleary-eyed, MacReady is in the process of blowing up some strange inflatable object. As he puffs away, he still keeps an eye on the Norwegian video tapes. His balloon begins to take shape. It blossoms into a life-size replica of a full- breasted woman. Something on the tape catches his eye. He rewinds, then starts it forward again.

km #00477 29 {

The screen shows the Norwegians on the surface of what appears to be an enormous, flat glacier. They are spread out en the [ ice around a large odd oval shape; their arms outstretched.

It fades to black and then a Norwegian comes on mugging child- ishly in front of the camera, apparently quite pleased with something.

The tape fades to black again and the picture reappears. This time they have marked off the large oval area with flag sticks.

Closer shots show three of the men digging a deep hole into the ice. There is a small patch of something dark and metallic at the bottom.

MacReady leans forward, intrigued.

The men are now sinking something deep into the ice at various points around the markings. MacReady squints and mumbles to himself.

'/

The tape jump cuts again showing a long shot of the markings. No Norwegian in sight. An explosion kicks up the ice. A beat as the ice sprays to the ground. Then the camera appears to shake as theground beneath it quivers.

Another immense explosion follows. An earthquake-like force throws the camera to the ground.

The tape continues, distorted, unviewable. A distinct crack in the lens. MacReady lets go of his companion and quickly rewinds. The deflating mannequin is sent sputtering around the room.

Most of the dogs are sleeping or lounging. The new dog watches them calmly, silently.

km 30

He takes several steps towards a group of about five dogs and l sits upright. Completely still. He stares at them. A beat. The dogs are aware of something. They begin to seem a bit confused, uncomfo~table.

The new dog continues to stare. Sitting rigidly, unnaturally still. His eyes dead, lusterless black spheres. C

Bewildered, a few dogs start to pace. As if sensing something: a portent. A danger. But so odd. They begin a so'ft,purring growl.

l '!'henewdog remains a statue. The growling builds. More dogs begin to pace. Nervously. Faster, encircling. Emitting hisses, snarls. The lack of response driving them into a frenzy.

Barks. Growls. More frenetic pacing. The din escalating. Three dogs start to close in on the stranger. They attack.

73 THE SHADOW OF THE NEW DOG 73

against the kennel wall. The shadow suddenly lurches upward, seeming larger.

The kennel roars.

MacReady is still going over bits of the same footage, fascin- ated. He hears the far-off clamor of the dogs.

He, too, bothered by the noise, tosses and turns in his sleep.

Clark snores. MacReady has entered.

lb #00477

No response. MacReady nudges him. Clark rolls away, annoyed.

{ MacReady pinches his snoring nose, cutting off the air. Clark sits up, groggy.

(

Clark, sleepy, irritated, makes his way down the freezing corridor. The wind soughing loudly overhead. (

78 CLARK 78

reaches the kennel door. The savageoutpouring of noise from within baffles and angers him. He unlatches the door.

I CLARK What's got into ..•.

Smack! Just as he opens the door, two dogs, as if jettisoned from a cannon, knock him off his feet. Growls, barks, snarls. And a screeching from within.

MacReady is fetching himself a beer. The sound of the far- off screeching. He freezes. A beat. He turns and sprints.

80 HIS BEER CAN 80

as it smashes the glass of the fire alarm. He pulls the lever.

The alarm is blaring throughout the camp. MacReady, Garry, Norris run through the narrow tunnel led by Clark. MacReady carries a shotgun. Garry, half-dressed, has his .44. Clark, a fire ax.

nk #00477 32

Chaos. Men, half-naked, bounce from their cubicles. Pulling on their pants, digging into shoes.

Childs is grappling with his belt buckle.

Bennings is off.

as themen approach the locked kennel door. The two dogs, thrown into Clark, bark ferociously and scratch at the door trying to get back in. One is badly bloodied.

The fight inside rages on. MacReady and Clark b.racethem- selves by the narrow door. Norr isand Garry hold back the two hysterical dogs. Clark undoes the latch and he and MacReady enter the kennel.

The light has been broken and it is pitch black. MacReady snapson his flashlight. Norris and Garry can't contain their animals and the dogs burst into the room. They smash intoMacReady and send him sprawling. Total confusion: the dogs; the men; the screeching; the blackness.

MacReady gropes for his flashlight and rights himself. He finds Clark. Then shines it around the cramped room tryinry to get his bearings.

The light findsa mass of dogs in a wild melee in the co"ncr.

da #00477 33

Barkino mixed with hissing, a gurgling, a screeching. Dogs being hurled about and then charging back into the fray with l a vengeance.

The flashlight illuminates parts of some "thing." A dog. But not quite. Impossible to tell. It struggles powerfully. Garry pokes his head into the blackness. {

MacReady aims his shotgun at the entire pack.

( MAC READY

I'm go~ng to shoot.

Clark wades into the pack, grabs at dogs' hides and throws them back. He then wields his ax into the fray, chopping and hacking away at the gurgling, hissing silhouette.

From out of nowhere, a large, bristly, arachnid-like leg springs up and wraps around Clark's ax. It sends Clark smash- ing violently into the wall.

85 OUTSIDE 85

More men running, nearing the kennel. Several squeezing in with Garry, trying to get a look.

86 INSIDE 86

MacReady fires several rounds. A dog is flung at him, knock- ing him and his flashlight once more to the ground.

Garry squeezes in and begins blasting away in the direction of the hissing and screeching. A dog is hit. MacReady crawls for his flashlight.

Blam. Blam. Garry continues firing at the silhouette.

Childs, huffing and puf[ing, lugs the huge industrial torch toward the crowded kennel doorway.

• 34 da #00477

87 CONTINUED

I.

l 88 I.NT.KENNEL 83

Childs scrunches in, disoriented by the blackness, and bumps into Garry, knocking him off balance.

MacReady signals with his flashlight and then points it at the gathering of snarling dogs.

Childs lets loose with a burst of blue flame. A mewing, a screeching. Part of the kennel starts to burn.

Childs moves closer, continuing his assault on the hissing, gurgling presence.

Men charge into the room and begin spraying dogs and burning walls. Dogs and men choke and cough amidst the smoke and co .

The screeching lesser.s. The hissing and gurgling fade. Childs turns off his torch.

CUT TO

tv #00477 35

Those of the men that have gathered exhibit a pale and quiet uneasiness.

Blair, in silent awe, stands over the badly burned corpses of two interlocking dogs, that lie before him on a table.

' one wearing the remnants of Clark's bandage is much larger and appears less doglike. Its entire torso is cracked and peeled, as if its innards were trying to burst out.

Odd appendages, recoiled and withered by the flame, are wrapped grotesquely about both bodies.

Clark, his eyes set in glassy stare, sits in shock. Nauls comforts him. Childs stands nearby smoking a joint and star- ing at the floor.

Blair, transfixed, continues hovering over the united cadavers. Weighing. Thinking. A very worried look on his face.

The dead bodies of two other dogs from the kennel are not far off.

Fuchs is attending to the shredded bodies of three other badly wounded dogs.

Nauls pats Clark on the shoulder and grins, trying to pick up his spirits.

Clark turns to him with a childlike smile.

lv #00477 36

Norris is going through some maps. MacReady is bent over his shoulder. Norris finds the one he's looking for.

Bennings pokes his head in the room.

Station Manager Garry has joined Blair by the stuck-together bodies. Blair motions to the bandage.

S4 EXT. CHOPPER 94

high above the Antarctic expanse.

tv #00477 37

l MacRcady pilots. Young Palmer and Norris are with him. It is clear but the winds are troublesome. The ride is a shaky one. Norris refers to their map. He points.

( over here.

They aim for a large mountainous wall. As they go up and over ... they see:

96 A FLAT, GLACIAL EXPANSE 96 l On the surface, an enormous blackened oval shape.

All the bodies of the dogs have been brought in. Fuchs stands by as Blair studies through his microscope.

of two cells. They appear to be much different from each other. They are joined at the ends but are completing the process of breaking off from each other.

99 ON BLAIR 99

A disturbed look on his face. He checks his watch, as if timing the procedure.

as they walk along the ice. They come to a stop at the edge of a sharp drop.

Pull back to reveal -- the massive black hole about fifteen feet beneath the ice. Charred, gnarled and mangled metal are all that is left of what was once an enormous sphere .

is in awe.

MacReady finds a burnt thermite canister. He and Norris climb down.

nk #00477 38

They move along amongst the wreck. Almost everything but the ( skeletal superstructure has disintegrated into a fine ashy powder.

Norris digs for ice samples at the perimeter of the wreckage, while MacReady browses through the center.

Palmer continues to marvel, as he walks around the oval, atop the ice.

MacReady returns and kneels down next to Norris as the latter examines a piece of metal. (

Norris shakes his head no.

Palmer calls out, waving them over.

The twomen join Palmer about fifty yards from the oval. A large rectangular chunkhas been cut out of the ice. It is fifteen feet long, six feetwide and eight feetdeep.

l nk #00477 39

MacRcady kneels down to observe. A beat.

A gust of wind picks up the snow at their feet.

CUT TO

Fascinated, a few of the men are reviewing the Norwegian video tapes of the finding of the mysterious craft. MacReady sits quietly by his chess set contemplating a large glass of Scotch. Clark, less interested than the others, is flipping through the Norwegian nudie magazine. Blair, looking worried, sits off in a corner, pondering the photo of the block of ice and fingering a piece of crumbled- up metal brought back from the site. Childs, viewing the tapes, can't quite believe it all.

MacReady is not listening.

Nauls, about to prepare dinner, scowls as he rummages through his many cabinets.

He turns to examine the cabinets above the large stove. He spots something in the nearby kitchen trash can. Disgusted, he pulls out a torn and shredded pair of long johns.

MacReady theorizes.

t nk #00477 40

102-B CONTINUED 102-F

l bullshit. You believe this voo-

doo bullshit, Blair?

Blair says nothing, lost in thought.

Palmer, stoned, a joint dangling from his mouth, is searching for information through stacks of old issues of The National Enquirer and The Star.

Palmer shakes amagazine at him adamantly.

Clark marvels at a particular photo.

Nauls skates into the room. He shakes the crumpled-up pair of long johns in his fist.

He flings it across the room. It lands on MacReady's chess set.

( nk #00477 41

Nauls spins on his skates and storms off. MacReady fetches the strangely shredded underwear and rolls it up, while Childs ( paces.

{

MacReady tosses the ball of cloth across the room into a trash bin.

CHILDS

\

Now how's this motherfucker wake up after thousands of years in the ice, huh?

A beat as Blair stares straight ahead, transfixed. He speaks softly, to no one in particular.

nk #00477 42 l

The men take in his grave countenance.

l GARRY

So? .. So what?It's over with.

Blair turns to them. A pause. The men search his face.

as Blair rips it off exposing the tangled mess of interlock- ing dogs.

Pull back. All the men have gathered. Some of the men settle into chairs, others stand.

t

t

(

realized it couldn't survive for long in our atmosphere ... But being the incredibly adaptable creature it was ... it tried tobecomesome- thing that could ... Before the Norwegians killed it ...itsomehow

C got to this dog.

Silence.

Blair slams his fist on the slab.

mw #00477

(

[ several of the men nearest the carcasses jump back knocking over a chair.

CUT TO

( lying on the snow. They are being soaked with gasoline.

Pull back. Fuchs is beside himself. Childs has the large torch. MacReady empties another can on the bodies. Dr. Copper stands nearby. ,I

Childs lights the tip. Fuchs makes a determined move for the torch.

Childs struggles with him for a beat and then flings him to the ground. Dr. Copper grabs him preventing him from getting back up.

Childs splays the remains with a jet of flame. Fuchs shakes his head in frustration and disgust.

CUT TO

{ #00477 45 as

The night feeding. Clark dishes out the food. Blair is ( taking blood samples from the remaining three dogs.

( in the rec room, he had already

scraped off his bandage. Before I put him with the others, I redressed his wound and noticed it had healed up real good....

A beat as Blair stares at Clark.

Clark seems uneasy under Blair's intense gaze.

as #00477 46 l

l Blair stands, his eyes still glued to Clark.

(

( Blair's eyes glaze as if in revelation.

He backs out of the kennel.

Irritated, harrassed, station manager Garry moves briskly down the hall. Blair, worried and pale, tries to.keep up with him.

Garry stops at the entrance to the communications room.

Sanchez shrugs.

mw #00477 47

(

help in here .•••

( here ... Thatdogwas all over this

camp ... .

Bennings interrupts, entering the hallway, referring to his mcteorlogical chart. (

The men from outside come stomping through the hallway.

BLAIR MAC READY

No! You can't let people I ain't going anywhere in leave .... anything over forty knots,

Garry ....

mw #00477 l

106 CONTINUED - 2 lOG

Close on Blair, ashen-faced, falling silent. As if in a daze, he watches the men as they continue to converse. Suspicious, frightened.

CUT TO

and OMITTED and

Pitch black except for the barest of lighting which outlines the building. l'lind.The swirl·of ice.

Far away from the others, MacReady sits in his little hovel putting the final screw into his mended chess set. On the other side of the set, his busty, inflatable companion has been propped up in a chair. His sombrero hangs down her back, keeping her in place. Hawaiian music plays from his tape deck.

He puts down his screwdriver, holds up his glass and offers a toast with a big grin.

as #UU477 4~

He clinks tho drink he has made for her that rests on her side of the board. He sips. He turns on the machine and makes his first move.

{

The set answers for Esperanza.

( rook takes pawn at queentwo --

rook takes queen at queen one -- checkmate.

He flips open the circuitry panel in disgust. He tosses his screwdriver on the board and grabs his drink, downing it.

He reaches inside his ice bucket. Empty.

MacReady exits. He swacks at a nearby bank of ice with a small ice pick.

The sound of a clanking. Ile turnshis attention. Metal against metal. Strange. MacReady listens. It appears to be coming from far off below, near the camp.

km #00477 50 l

112 MAC READY 112

as he makes his way down with the aid of the steadying ropes. The clanking louder now. He senses the direction. (

112-A MAC READY 112-A

at the bottom near the main compound. The sound has stopped. He looks around in the near blackness. A beat. ( 113 THE CHOPPERS 113

sitting idle in the dark. MacReady approaches. The door to one of the cockpits is slightly ajar. He opens it cautiously.

{

MacReady slips in. He turns on a flashlight. The controls have been mangled. Beaten with something heavy. Bang!! MacReady, startled, turns. Like the sound of a gun. Coming from the main compound.

Confusion. Shouts. MacReady enters. He grabs Palmer as he and Bennings rush by.

116 HALL\"IAY-RADIO ROOM ENTRANCE 116

The men are on either side of the open radio room doorway. Garry peeks his head in. A gunshot blast forces him back.

117 RADIO ROOM 117

Sanchez lies on the floor, groaning. Blair holds the gun on the door. He wields a fire ax with the other hand and smashes down on the radio.

mw li00477 51 t

117 CotlTINUED 11 7

( Nobody's getting in or out of this

camp ....

118 HALLWAY 118

( MacReady has joined the others.

( Childs is off.

119 RADIO ROOM 119

C Blair crunches the ax down once again, while keeping an eye on the door.

120 BACK TO HALLWAY 120

121 BACK TO RADIO ROOM 121

He brings the ax down hard on the radio.

( mw #00477 52

122 BACK TO HALL\'1AY 122

Childs runs up, out of breath. (

Garry readies his large .357 Magnum. (

l Norris double-times down the hall.

MacReady turns the corner and into the rec room. He grabs one of the thick card tables.

MacReady returns with the table to the hallway.

123 NORRIS 123

reaches the fuse box. He opens it.

124 HALLWAY 124

MacReady readies the table like a shield.

mw #00477 53

The lights go. MacReady charges into the black room. Blair [ fires. MacReady barrels into him, knocking him to the ground. He pummels him with a right hand and manages to control the gun.

The others dive in and pile on.

r CUT TO

and OMITTED and

Heavily-clothed, l~acReady, Fuchs and Dr. Copper help a dazed Blair to a toolshed some seventy-five yards from the main compound.

More spacious than MacReady's. Very liveable. Two windows. Blair has been placed on the cot. Dr. Copper injects him.with a sedative.

Fuchs and MacReady nail boards over the windows.

Blair's droopy-eyed, heavily drugged features loom up at MacReady through the window.

mw #00477 54

Blair's face disappears from the window.

CUT TO

Harsh and grey. Getting very dark as winter takes a stronger hold. Bennings is dumping the trash in a large hole in the snow which a<.:tsas the trashdump.

Bennings finishes and drags the empty bins past Palmer and Childs, who are fixing the wounded choppers.

The radio looks a mess. Norris and Sanchez, a bandage wrapped around his head, examine the damage. He is in pain and still looks a little groggy.

Norris smiles and pats him comfortingly.

TOAST, ETC.

Pull back. The men help themselves. It is a cramped, elon- gated room.

mw #00477 55

Dr. Copper approaches Nauls and hands him a capsule. r

Clark comes running into the room, pallid, out of breath. The [ men turn to look.

CUT TO

Empty. Clark and Garry examine the latch of the kennel door.

TRACKS

in the snow. They lead from the kennel's open stairwell and out onto the ice. All the men have gathered.

MacReady is writing down what appears to be a list on a pad.

Garry and several others turn to MacReady quizzically.

CONTIIWED

sp #00477 56

134 CO!!THlUI:D 134

llA':READY

( I am going after them.

( over a thousand miles from any-

thing. PALMER Choppers aren't going to be ready for days.

llacReadyhands his list to Bennings.

t!ACREADY Then get a move on. Childs, come with me.

He puts his arm around Childs and pulls him along. The others watch them walk off, a little bewildered.

Bennings is reading MacReady's list.

( #00477 sp 57

134 COUTillUED- 2 134

BE}::aNGS Holy shit.

l (hands list

to Garry) l~hatever_ he's going to do,he ain't fucking around.

of the large torch. A fierce stream of flame bursts from its nozzle.

Pull back. The stream has shot out some fifteen feet. l Childs has been modifying it.

136 CLOSE ON PALMER 136

•

as he works on the snowmobiles. Into frame rolls a wheel- barrow on sleds. A box marked DYNAMITE is its most promi- nent article. Pull back. Bennings reads off the list of supplies.

The two vehicles rip across the hard, flat ice, bolstered by the added horsepower. They follow the still visible dog tracks in the snow.

CUT TO

i sp #00477 58

138 THE SU!l 138

sliding across the horizon, ~ignaling midday. The snow- ( mobiles whoosh past. Bennings drives the one loaded with supplies. MacReady and Childs double up on the other.

CUT TO

139 MAC READY 139

steadying his binoculars, while Childs drives, spots some- thing up ahead. The vehicles slow down and come to a halt. Something lies just ahead of them in the whiteness, in the middle of the dog tracks.

140 THE MEN 140

kneel down by the "something." It is the half-eaten remains of a dog. Itshind legs and lower stomach picked clean. Its ripped hide, flapping in the wind. Its top half missing.

HacReady follows the line of continuing dog tracks.

MacReady moves to the snowmobile and grabs a two-gallon can of gasoline. He turns to Bennings.

BENNI!lGS Nowhere ... Just straight to the ocean.

tv t00477 59

A beat as llacReadytakes this in. He pours the gas over the remains and sets it aflame.

Childs and Bennings are not that anxious to continue.

MacReady gets in and revs up the engine.

Childs and Bennings return shrugs.

CUT TO

141 THE SUN 141

making its last pass, rolling off the horizon. Only a slight orange hue left.

CUT TO

142 THE SNOl'/?1OBILES 142

move slower, positioned on either side of the tracks. The tracks abruptly change direction. The men come to a stop. It is much colder now. Their beards, a mask of white powder.

MacReady surveys the new direction. They are headed toward a far-off ridge of bluffs. Large, windswept mounds of ice.

CUT TO

14 3 THE SNOWIIOBILES 143

as they move through a valley of newly-formed dunes and tall ice cliffs. The last of the sun obscured, the headlamos are turned on and pointed at the tracks.

The men look behind, in front, and from side to side, as they proceed cautiously through the maze. Up ahead tlacReadyspots:

tv #00477 60 (

144 A DOG

It sits, its back to them, unconcerned, heedless of their arrival. It is munching on the other half of the dog car- ( cass.

The men stop thei·r machinessome twenty yards from it. 'fhey are hemmed in at the valley's narrowest point.

Childs, carrying the torch, and MacReady, armed with a - ( thermite bomb, wade awkwardly but carefully toward the anim2l in their snowshoes. Bennings stands back by the snowmobiles.

Childs and llacReadyspread out some dozen feet from the dog. It continues to pay them no mind, content to chew its food.

Bennings surveys the tops of the snow bluffs that encircle them with his flashlight.

No response. MacReady searches the near vicinity with his light. All three are growing uneasy.

Childs turns on the gas and lights the tip.

Bennings is still watching the bluffs. Something from be- neath the snow reaches up and grabs his feet. He is ri9ped back down through the hard .snowin one incredibly oowerful motion. He screams, his head the only thing sticking out of the ice.

Childs and MacReady turn, confused, unable to see anything but Bennings' screaming head. They rush toward him. ?lacReady stumbles.

The sound of a snapping, a crackling to MacReady's rear. He freezes; turns back to the dog. Its back is still to him; its coat of hair sticking up like that of a porcu9ine. It snarls; its face turns slowly toward him. Its skin s9litting; its mouth ripping open wildly.

{ tv #00477 61

Childs stops, confused as to who to help first. He notices ( the dog haunched and ready to spring. He steps back toward rlacReady. The dog/Thing leaps for MacReady; an incredible jump of some twenty feet.

Childs lets loose a blast, hitting the dog in midair; the force of the spray knocking it back and tumbling to the ice ( in flames.

MacReady throws his thermite canister. It discharges and engulfs the screeching animal in fire.

145 BENNINGS 145

howling in pain. The ice underneath him thrashes violently. Childs and MacReady stand by helplessly, unable to see what has him or what action to take. Childs moves closer to help.

Bennings' head disappears with a sudden jerk through the ice. The ice continues to rumble like boiling water, moving in different directions. Part of Bennings' body pops up in a different area and is just as quickly pulled back down.

MacReady and Childs watch on in frustration and anger.

Bennings' head and shoulders then surface near one of the snowmobiles. Something has him. Unclear as to what. The jowls of a dog. But huge. Bennings' heavy clothing begins to rip, tear, as if his skin underneath was bulging out. The jowls seem to be absorbing his head.

MacReady runs for the snowmobile.

l1AC READY He's gone already! Do it!

tv #00477

145 CONTINUED

Childs blasts away. The ice begins to melt as Bennings and ( whatever has him catch fire. A screeching.

MacReady grabs cans of gas from the snowmobiles. Suddenly a steel-like, arachnid-shaped arm shoots out in pain and with incredible force pierces the fiber glass chassis of the snow- mobile. MacReady is knocked back. He recovers and dumos cans of gasoline on the writhing mess.

He dives and rolls away from the lunging appendage.

He and Childs watch on as Bennings and The Thing roar in flame. Behind them, the other dog/Thing continues to burn. l The screeching, mewing and gurgling wails on, all about them.

They look to each other in disbelief, their faces illuminated by the flickering flames. The strident sounds beginning to subside.

146 THE SUN

14 6

Its slim, orange arc sets, signaling the start of the Vernal Equinox. And the beginning of six months of darkness.

CUT TO

The men are interrogating Clark. He is frazzled and defensive.

Childs is holding the industrial torch directly in his face.

14 8 EXT. TRASH DUMP

MacReady, waist-deep in trash and snow, searches for some- thing.

H9

The interrogation continues.

tv #00477 63

CLAP.:, ... WouldI even have told you they were gone if I had anything to hide?

( CLARK

I told you I couldn't find... (pushes torch away) ... get that out ofmy face.

l Childs grabs him by the collar and rips him off his chair.

Nauls steps between them.

Garry breaks it up, pulling them apart. HacReady enters from the outside. A bundle is tucked under his arm.

MacReady moves over to the table.

• Theoretically any of us could be

whatever the hell this thing is.

( am #00477 64

Norris shakes his head, rubbing his chest in slight dis- ( comfort.

{ MacReady pushes his sombrero back over his head.

He drops the bundle he had been holding on the table between ( the men. It is the shredded pair of long johns.

Themen look from one another. Silence. MacReady picks it up and examines the label.

Clark stews.

The uneasiness in the room grows.

l am #00477 65

MAC READY

[ Doubt if it got to more than one

or two of us. But it got to some- one. (beat) Somebody in this room ain't what he appears to be.

A pause as all eyes travel from man to man.

Norris turns to Dr. Copper and Fuchs.

• GARY What's that?

t am #00477 66

DR. COPPER

( A couple of hours.

( Garry unhinges a key from his belt and hands it to Dr. Copper. Dr. Copper and Fuchs head for the infirmary.

(

f PALMER

And that was enough?

Themen rush in. Fuchs and Copper stand by the open plasma storage refrigerator. The inside is a mess of dried blood. The bladders have been ripped open. Copper is ghastly pale.

A horrified silence.

l am #00477 67

Sanchez twitches, terrified. l

( DR. COPPER

·I guess I'm the only one.

C Several pairs of eyes turn to Garry.

{ da #00477 .68

l A day or so ago .•• Iguess.

Garry senses the nervous and inquiring eyes on him.

GARRY

t I suppose ... well, it's possible

someone might have lifted it from me. But.••.

( hooked to your belt. Now how

could somebody get to it without you knowing?

Silence as the men continue to stare. Sanchez is perspiring.

The eyes shift from Garry to Copper.

Sanchez bolts out the door. Stunned for a beat, the others chase after him.

( da #004 77 69

151 SANCHEZ 151

in terror, runs at top speed through the narrow corridors. l Opening and shutting doors. The others are in pursuit. They shout for him to stop.

CUT TO

152 SANCHEZ 152

as he reaches a small armory. A glass case set into the wall. A half a dozen rarely used guns are inside. He tries the handle. Locked.

He hears the clamor of feet and voices as the others are nearing. He breaks the glass and grabs a shotgun. Then a box of shells. He frantically tries to load, but is too nervous.

The others arrive at the end of the hallway. Garry pulls his handgun and points.

No one doubts Garry's sincerity.

The others regard Garry tensely. No one oblivious to the facS,that Sanchez just might be right.

Still trembling, he tosses the shells back into the broken case, leans the gun against the wall and begins to sob. Nauls skates over to comfort him.

The men watch as Garry lowers his gun. He turns to them.

{ da #00477 70

( didn't go near that plasma •••

(beat) But I guess you'll all rest easier if someone else is in charge.

He hands his gun to Norris. {

(

Childs goes for the gun.

MacReady beats him to it.

Childs glares.

Roving eyes pass about the hallway. Nobody is sure who to trust. MacReady seems as good as any.

The men have gathered to discuss plans. Furtive and untrust- worthy glances are passed around the room.

( mm #00477 71

l Childs points to Garry, Dr. Copper and Clark.

l-1ACREADY We got morphine, don't we?

Fuchs nods.

Palmer is ignored.

Dr.Copper eyes his accuser solemnly.

( mm #00477 72

MAC READY (Cont'd)

( can handle it in that state. But

if it ever got to full power ... from what I saw of that Norwegian camp ... well,I just don't know.•. It would probably take it an hour or more to get like that. So no matter

{ what anybody's doing, we all return

to this room every twenty minutes. Anybody gone longer than that •.. anybody trying to leave ... we kill 'em.

( CUT TO

It is thedead of winter. Six months of darkness ahead. Palmer fights the cold as heworks dismantling the engine of the helicopter.

He frowns, searching for something.

Copper, Clark and Garry sit moodily together on a couch. Norris awkwardly prepares to give them their injections. He is new at this. Childs stands guard with his torch.

Dr. Copper offers to help.

MacReady and Sanchez are foraging through the trash dump.

t 7.3 mm #00477

Norris has begun dismantling the radio. He rubs at his chest l as he disengages the headset.

Following Nauls as he skates through the labyrinth. Check- ( ing waste bins. Pausing to look behind shelves and any obscure hiding place.

MacReady passes him coming the other way.

NAULS

(

That thing's too smart to be hiding any more of its clothes, MacReady.

Fuchs is poring over a book. Several others lie open on his desk.

MacReady pokes his head in the lab.

A siren goes of, signaling the end of a twenty-minute period. Sanchez pulls himself out of the trash dump.

Palmer carries a large part of a helicopter engine toward the compound.

mm #00477 74

The hallway near the supply storage cubicle. MacReady holds the door open as Palmer makes his way to him lugging the heavy helicopter part.

Childs passes by from the other direction.

He passes by.

Palmer sets down the heavy part. Norris follows him inside with a bundle of radio gear. They move back out into the hallway. MacReady locks the door behind them.

163 HALLWAY 163

The three move down the hall toward their appointed rendez- vous at the rec room.

Cramped. Several of the men are preparing their food. Opening cans. Heating them in pots.

Nauls wearily approaches Blair's tool shed with a tray of food. He hears a pounding from within.

Sp #00477 75

NAULS

l I got your goodies, superdude.

He peeks in through _theopening in the boarded-up window. Blair is nailing himself in from the inside. He looks pretty crazed.

Nauls slides the tray in the slot. It is immediately shoved back out and topples onto the ice. Some of the food has splashed on Nauls' heavy coat.

Palmer works on the snowmobile. Sanchez resumes searching through the trash.

MacReady slashes into the huge uninflated weather balloons, rendering them useless. Tanks of helium and hydrogen arc stacked nearby.

km #00477 76

Nauls does the dishes. His cassette plays in the b.g.

Childs continues guarding the three men. (

Childs follows him to the other end of the room.

( CHILDS

Be quick.

Clark walks to the head. Childs moves back to the middle of the room. As the guard he is much more vulnerable in this position. Being split between his prisoners.

The lights begin to flicker. The soft purr of the generator begins to fade.

The lights go out. Nauls calls from the kitchen.

Dr. Copper giggles in the dark.

( km #00477 77

NAULS (o. s . )

l !'m working it! Nothing's hap-

pening!

Childs lights the tip of his torch, allowing him a strong candlelight. Garry is no longer in the room.

Dr. Copper looks numbly at the empty seat next to him. Childs finds the portable siren and blares it.

MacReady, Palmer and Sanchez heed the call and head for the compound.

Childs jerks his head around in different directions.

Pitch black.

km

MacReady, Sanchez and Palmer come in from the outside. They bump into each other trying to get their bearings from the lack of light. Palmer, the only one who seems to have one, turns on his flashlight.

Palmer and MacReady stumbling down the stairs. MacReady turns around, looks.

sp #00477

175 CONTillUCD

Both look around. Sanchez is gone. Palmer's light finds the motionless generator. He examines.

MacReady dashes upstairs into the darkness.

The lab door is opened. Fuchs holding a small candle walks out. As he passes, the shoulder of a man springs into frame.

Palmer is feverishly working underneath the generator on his back.

The temperature continues to drop rapidly. Childs swats himself to keep warm, while still keeping an eye on Dr.Copper and the rest of the room.

MacReady rushes out of the supply room, with a fuel pump, bumps into somebody.

The silhouette moves on down the hallway.

CUT TO

ps #00477 80

MacReady holds the flashlight for Palmer. Their breath, puffs of white smoke.

The sound of a screeching. From somewhere in the compound. The two men's faces, locked in fear.

CUT TO

The generator has been repaired; the lights within the compound are back on.

Grim and tense. Everyone is present but Fuchs. Eyes flit from man to man. Palmer, Nauls and Sanchez are spread out about the room, keeping as much distance as possible from the rest.

Norris and Childs are tying the Doctor, Clark and Garry to the couch. MacReady prepares several makeshift blowtorches as he kneels on the ground.

mm #00477 Bl

181 CONTINUED

[ No answer as the men's faces roam the room. Childs glares at Garry as he begins to tie him in.

Garry's groggy features stare blankly.

Garry struggles to his feet, affronted.

He grabs Childs by the collar.

Childs whales on him with a right hand. Both go tumbling over the couch. MacReady and Norris dive in breaking it up.

MacReady, furious, pulls Childs away.

Norris breathing heavily from the activity, massages his chest. The strong, stormy winds overhead batter the roofing. MacReady glances up. He and Childs release each other.

ps #00477 82

He thrusts one of the blowtorches hard into Childs' stomach.

He tosses torches to Sanchez and Palmer.

Sanchez snaps his head toward Palmer. Palmer looks at the others.

ps #00477 83

The men survey eacb other.

CUT TO

MacReady and Nauls, wearing their snowshoes and using flares for light, pull themselves along the steadying rope that leads to Blair's shed. They are careful to keep an eye on each other as they move along.

Sanchez heads off in the direction of another shack.

CUT TO

One of the many doors creak open. Childs and Palmer stealthily move into the next corridor. Palmer falls a few steps behind, mumbling to himself.

Childs freezes and snaps his head around facing Palmer. A beat.

ps #00477 84

Another beat.

He moves to the other side of the wall, parallel with Childs. They continue on, skimming along the sides of the corridor in plain view of one another.

CUT TO

Nauls and MacReady arrive at Blair's shack. They peer in through the spaces between the boards.

A weak light burns as Blair is seated eating out of a can. A hangman's noose dangles from the ceiling nearby.

Blair jumps in fear, spilling his can.

Blair approaches the boarded-up window. He looks haggard and afraid.

He and Nauls trudge off. Blair shouts after them.

sp #00477 85

Norris continues his watch on the sedated trio. He anxiously tries to keep an eye on the various entrances behind and in front of him. He rubs his chest in pain.

186 O!>lITTED 186

The winds are thick and vicious now. MacReady and Nauls pull themselves along the rope fighting their way up the slope. A violent gust sends MacReady's body horizontal, but still hang- ing onto the rope. The wind slaps him back down. His flare and torch tumble back toward Nauls. Nauls saves the torch from rolling down the hill.

MacReady, lying vulnerable, watches Nauls pull his way toward him. He tenses. Nauls reaches him. A beat. He hands him back his torch. Relieved, MacReady pulls himself upright.

that line the wall. They have been torn apart. Childs and Palmer examine.

PALllER Auxiliary light cables ..? Been cut.

as they reach the top. The remaining flare their only light. Very dark. They stand on either side of the door. MacReady shoves it open. Pitch black inside. MacReady flips the light switch. Doesn't work.

L They enter. Haunched. Torches ready. The place a mess. The winds as strong as on the outside.

The single flare illuminating the ceiling. Almost all of the corrugated, steel roofing is gone. As if ripped off.

rlacReady stares up incredulous, as they advance through the room.

Nauls kicks over a chair. A naked, fleshy object bounds high into the air. Nauls thrusts out his torch, catching the breasts of the inflatable woman. She pops and is sucked out through the hole in the roof.

Nauls tries to catch his breath.

Underground, rickety corridor. Palmer stands by as Childs undoes the many locks to the room that houses his plants. One by one. Palmer twists his head in every which direction. Nervous.

Childs pulls open the heavy door. A flush of snow and wind push them back. They wedge their bodies at the entrance to the lightless room.

They enter. The light from the hall exposes the completely smashed-in window hig_habove the plants. The plants look frozen.

Saddened, angry, Childs goes to check the damage to his plants. Palmer, his face set in horror, yanks him back.

Palmer readies his small torch.

Palmer sprays them with flame. Childs pushes him to the ground, and tries to swat out the fire.

Palmer, his mouth agape with terror, screams and points to the closing door to their rear. Childs whirls.

\ (, \

192 FUCHS r,\.(\,)'\_.--YJ,\192

rt 0 ---

One arm outstretched, swings into view. An ax, embedded deep into his chest, pins his frozen body to the inside of the door.

Sp #00477 88

Norris startled by the scream, turns on the siren.

CUT TO

Sanchez has joined Childs and Palmer. The body of Fuchs is still pinned to the door. Sanchez tries to wrench the ax [ loose. It is too deeply embedded and won't budge.

Sanhcez observes Childs' hulking frame and adds pointedly:

tracking with the three men. Opening and closing doors, as they make their way back to the rec room. They keep their distance from each other, watching each other while they walk.

CUT TO

Sp #00477 89

shouting down a passageway.

196-A CLOSE ON CHILDS 196-A

bellowing.

A strong driftwind streams snow across the ground obscuring everything but the very top of the buildings. The siren screams.

Rigid, immobile faces. Listening to the storm overhead.

Silence, as the uneasy eyes measure one another.

199 VARIOUS ANGLES OF THE COMPOUND 199

Childs, Sanchez and Palmer -- closing off and bolting the entrances to the camp.

Through the fogged-up windows, a figure can be seen approach- ing themain compound. It pulls and drags its way along the guide rope, fighting the gale force winds.

cu·rTO

sp #00477 90

201 THE MEN 201

weapons in hand, huddle at the main doorway. They unbolt it. Sleet and hail send Nauls rolling in from the outside. The men force the door backand lock it.

The weary Nauls kneels on the floor and gasps for air. The others surround him.

PALllER Where's MacReady?

Nauls weighs each of them ominously, while digging down underneath his heavy jacket.

He pulls out a thick bundle of heavy clothing. It is muti- lated and partially burned. He holds out the jacket to show the inside collar.

Close on name tag -- It reads: R.J. MAC READY

The men, as they examine in a hush.

The men continue to examine in various states of disbelief.

l nk #00477 91

Childs and Norris separate them.

A pounding at the door sends themen jerking backward. Nauls scampers to his feet. .They tense.

No answer as the men surround the door, their weapons ready. Fear.

nk #00477 92

(harsh whisper) Bullshit! He's got to know damn well I cut it!

The men keep their voices low.

More pounding.

CON'l'INUED

nk #00477 93

CHIL::.S Then we're wrong.

The muffled breaking of a window down the hall. The men turn.

Pitch black. MacReady's voice is heard cursing as he appears to be stumbling around, looking for a light switch. He re- sponds to the muffled voices at the door.

203 HALLWAY 203

Palmer stands by as Childs tries the knob. Locked.

Childs rips a nearby fire ax off the wall and begins hacking away at the door.

MacReady begins to rummage through the supplies in the dark- ness.

nk #00477 94

Childs chops away. MacReady desperately continues rummaging through the supplies.

205 HALLWAY 205

Childs cautions to Palmer as he prepares for one last blow.

Crunch. The door gives. The men move in. Their blow torches ready: They freeze.

MacReady stands before them holding a lighted flare. His hair and clothing are covered with snow; his cheeks and nose blackened by frostbite. Tucked under his arm is an entire box of dynamite. He holds the flare dangerously close to the open box.

He appears to mean it. They don't seem anxious to test him.

They do. He follows them out into the hall.

206 HALLWAY 206

The men step backwards carefully.

They heed, retreating further down the hall. MacReady glances behind him.

r,k #00477 95

206 CONTINUED 20(,

Nauls and Norris, who have silently crept in through the supplywindow, come flying through the hacked-up door and barrel into MacReady. Both going straight for the flare.

MacReady spins Nauls off and rips into Norris, sending him crashing violently into the wall. Nauls tackles MacReady's legs, pulling him to the floor.

The others rush him. MacReady, still in control of the dyna- ~ite and flare, bellows:

They skid to a halt. Nauls crawls away, quickly.

Norris, lying on the floor, coughs as if gasping for breath. He quivers for a moment and then is still. Nauls crawls over to him and shakes him. A beat.

Nauls listens to Norris' chest. MacReady stands.

CUT TO

207 20) thru OMITTED thru

mw ii00477 96

Norris' body is plopped on the examination table. Copper stumbles and is steadied by some of the men. MacReady con- tinues to keep his distance.

Copper places an oxygen mask over Norris' face. He then rips open his shirt.

Copper begins swathing Norris' chest with a gelatin substance.

Sanchez pushes over the portable fibrillator. Copper climbs up on the table and straddles Norris' chest. Unnoticed, Clark paws the contents of the instrument tray behind his back.

They do so. Copper holds electrical prongs over Norris' chest.

mw #00477 97

Sanchez depresses the "on" button. l

(

Dr. Copper presses the prongs onto Norris' chest and shoots a bolt of current. Norris' body heaves upward. A slight crackling sound and an odd chirp through the oxygen mask.

Buzzzz. Several more jolts from the prongs. Clark's hand has found a scalpel. He gently lifts it out, bringing it to his side.

Norris' body begins bounding up. More crackling and popping. His chest begins to break up and spread. The mask pops off -- a hideous rr,ewingescapingfrom Norris' distorted mouth.

Themen jump back, incredulous. Dr. Copper scrambles off his chest and flops to the floor.

They watch on in stunned horror as The Thing that was Norris begins to change, to spread awkwardly on the slab. Its clothes tearing. A shoe splits in hal£ and falls to the floor, exposing the beginnings of a talon.

mw #00477 98

MacReady charges toward it, shooing the men off.

He unloads with a stream of flame. The body writhes in pain, belching and hissing. The slab catches fire. It struggles, lunaes for the floor, straightens up, and moves a few feet.

A black and yellow substance rips through its trousers and squirts to the floor. Norris' body collapses on the fibril- lating machine in flame. Extinguishers are ripped from the walls and put to work.

MacReady watches the smoking particles of ooze in fascina- tion, as they twitch and mew on the floor.

\'lithinseconds the fire is out. The men stand around in awe as they look upon The Thing that was once Norris.

MacReady continues to observe the small particles. Their tiny squeals abating into silence.

MacReady, still carrying the industrial'torch, has maneuvered all the men into the room. He holds Garry's .44. He has untaped the explosives from his chest and laid them on the nearby table next to two more boxes of dynamite.

fUU4 // (

lietosses a ream of steel cable and some rope to Palmer.

t MAC READY

Palmer, you and Copper tie every- one down. Real tight.

l

I Let's rush him. He's not going to

blow us all up.

MacReady points the . 44 at Childs'head .

MacReady cocks his gun. Childs holds his ground.

A beat. Clark springs for MacReady. Scalpel raised.

MacReady spins and fires three shots, point-blank, the force of the charges sending Clark flying backwards. The others, themselves about to pounce, stop -- as MacReady whirls the torch and gun back toward them.

CUT TO

mw #00477 100

212 THE ME" 212

being tied securely to couches and chairs.

MacReady turns on a Bunsen burner while he cuts the rubber co•1eringoff an electrical cord, exposing the copper wire. All the while, he keeps his eye on the men.

Copper starts to tie Palmer to the small couch next to Childs and Garry.

CUT TO

mw #00477 101

213 SANCHEZ 213

grimacing as Dr. Copper pinches a scalpel to his thumb and collects a small portion of his blood in a dish.

All the men have been tied up. Palmer, Childs and Garry on the small couch. The others, including the lifeless corpse of Clark, in chairs.

Copper returns the plate to the table and sets it down in line with the other plates of blood that he has collected. The names of each man have been scribbled onto the plates. MacReady slides the Doctor a fresh plate.

Copper cuts his thumb, his blood dribbles into the plate. He stands nervously for a beat.

Copper pushes it toward MacReady.

Copper steps backward, moisture beginning to collect on his brow. MacReady begins to heat the copper wire over the Bunsen burner.

The men watch intently. The wire begins to glow. MacReady points the torch directly at the Doctor. Both of them per- spiring. MacReady lifts the glowing wire from the flame. The Doctor is dead still. MacReady slowly torches the wire to the Doctor's plate. A soft hiss.

MacReady heats it again and tries once more. The same soft hiss. MacReady and the Doctor both let out a sigh.

( Sp #00477 102

213 CONTINUED

l brillator on t.orrisif you were

one of them.

He hands Cooper the torch.

MAC READY

[ (continuing)

\latchthem.

Ile cuts himself with the scalpeland begins collecting his own blood.

[ MAC READY

(continuing) Now I'll show you what I already know.

He heats the wire and puts it to his plate. The same harmless hissing. All eyes continue to watch as he tries again. The same result. Childs mumbles.

He heats the wire and lays it in Clark's dish. The hissing.

tlacReadynods.

MacReady <Jlancesover the group.

He sets Palmer's plate in front of him and heats the wire.

sp #00477 103

Screech!!! The blood howls, trying to crawl off the plate.

Palmer bolts forward with incredible force, racing for MacReady; his face splitting; his mouth roaring -- dragging the couch, Childs and Garry with him. He smashes into MacReady knocking him over the table.

It's all happened too fast. Copper tries to get off a burst of flame. The ever-changing Palmer breaks his bonds and leaps on the Doctor.

The others sit helpless, struggling at their bindings.

MacReady dives on Palmer's back and the three go rolling.to the floor. Screeching. Crackling. MacReady pounds viciously at Palmer's head. A powerful, shirt-splitting arm sends him skidding across the floor.

Copper momentarily.has control of the torch. Just as he positions it, Palmer's mouth splits from his chin to his forehead and engulfs the entirety of the Doctor's head.

The big torch slaps against the wall. Palmer bounds to his feet, wrapping his arms around the dangling, struggling body of Dr. Copper.

The men ar~ screaming hysterically. MacReady tries to fire up the bruised torch. Busted. Won't work. Frustrated, he charges u~ behind Palmer and begins hammering the thick steel instrument over his head.

The shirt on Palmer's back erupts in MacReady's face. Split- ting and ripping wildly, exposing the beginnings of yet another orifice. A blackened, iron-strong tongue lunges outward. Stunned, MacReady manages to elude it, diving for the top of the table by the boxes of dynamite.

:iacReadylights the fuse of a thick roll and bounds from the table. Palmer awkwardly spins in circles, swinging the Doctor's body like a propeller blade, struggling to keep on balance, as he advances on llacReady. The second orifice, spitting and snarling as it continues to take form.

sp f00477 104

nacReady waits until Palmer's back spins around, facing him. -Only two yards away, llacReady flings his lit roll into the ever-evolving second mouth and leaps onto the couch covering Childs and Garry with his body.

A muffled boom, as the swallowed explosive ignites from deep within Palmer and sends his flesh splattering all over the room. MacReady rolls away from Childs and Garry as fast as he can.

CUT TO

214 MAC READY 214

perspiring profusely, his hand trembling slightly, prepares to continue the test. He heats the wire.

The men are pouring sweat, white-knuckled.

One of the smaller torches is pointed at Nauls. He closes his eyes. MacReady places the heated wire into his plate. Hiss. MacReady exhales. Nauls opens his eyes.

215 MAC READY 2.15

unties Nauls with one hand, while the torch stays glued to the others.

216 MAC READY 216

heats the wire once again. Both he and Nauls have torches aimed at Sanchez. Sanchez is near tears.

The wire is dipped into the plate ... Hisssss.

Sanchez breaks down and sobs.

217 CHILDS 217

sits stoicly, while he watches the preparations for his turn.

Nauls and Sanchez take aim five yards away. Fierce, deter- mined. The wire comes off the flame into the plate ... the harmless hissing.

The muscles in Childs' face melt into a sigh.

;;00477 .1.0 5 l

1'.:..LEYES 213

snap towards station manager Garry. Childs, suddenly realiz- ing who he is sitting next to, squirms. l

( Nauls rips away his bindings. The other two stand guard. Childs scrambles off the couch and onto the floor.

219 GARRY 219

stares grimly ahead. Childs soaks his clothing with a can of gasoline. He is then surrounded. The room tenses, adrenalin pumps, breathing halts.

The burner. The torches. The wire. The plate. Garry's face.

Hisssss.

MacReady tries it again. Hiss. The men breathe. Their torches are lowered. Nauls throws his on the floor. Sanchez and Childs flop down in chairs. MacReady wipes his face.

A long silence. Sanchez weeps quietly with relief.

A beat. Childs starts to giggle. The strain on MacReady's jaw begins to lessen. Garry sits catatonic. Nauls scowls at Childs' uncontrollable laughter.

The infect~ous rasping causes MacReady a slight smile as he looks up, taking comfort in the sound of the raging Antarctic wind vibrating the roof. Nauls, untying Garry, grumbles, at Childs.

Childs wipes his eyes and grins over toward MacReady. His smile faded, MacReady is now stone-face. Childs' grin goes stale, in sudden realization.

sp #00477 106

The wind rumbles. The storm is at ·itspeak. MacReady, • Childs and Nauls, guided by their flares, pull themselves along the steadying rope, headed for Blair's shack.

221 BLAIR'S SHACK 22]

The door is wide open. They pause by the entrance, trying to balance against the wind. They enter.

Empty. A few of the floorboards are loosened. They pull them up. They stare down into a large hole beneath the planking. Something is down there. They pull up more boards.

The hole is some fifteen feet deep. Its dimensions are the same as the shack. Its space is almost completely taken up by some strange metallic object.

Crudely fashioned, a patchwork job, but streamlined. Sheets of corrugated steel are visible; but cut apart and welded into the desired shapes. The object appears to be un- finished.

sp #00477 107

222 CONTINUED 22;

MacReady pulls out a dozen tightly wrapped sticks of dynamite.

Far off, admidst the howling gale -- the screeching. The men jump. MacReady lights the fuse, as they make it to the exit. He tosses it in.

The explosion echoes behind them. The men pull along. Their heads jerk in circles, searching into the blackness.

Some twenty yards to their rear something swooshes down, severing the line. The wind sends the men tumbling along the ice. Childs loosens the line and is blown away, roll- ing out of sight.

MacReady and Nauls have lost their torches. They pull feverishly along the ground trying to make it to the compound.

The screeching closes in behind them. MacReady loses his grip on the rope and is blown toward the main building. He crawls along looking for an opening.

Nauls slides near the outside entrance to the dog kennel. He climbs down through the open stairwell.

MacReady has found the broken window. He rolls through it, landing on the frozen plants below. Something smashes at the glass above his head, trying to get ~n. He sprints for the door. Fuchs' frozen body is still pinned to it with the ax. MacReady grapples with the stiff torso which blocks the knob.

He finally gets it open and lets himself out, slamming and locking the door from the hall. Fuchs' body swings eerily, back and forth.

sp #00477 108

1-lacReadychargesup the stairs from the plant room. He zooms down the twisting corridors, opening and closing doors. He rounds a bend and crashes into Nauls coming the other way.

CUT TO

pouring gasoline into empty bottles, preparing Molotov cockt.:i.ils.

r;.._,,)\1-/\,_G,.arryis connectingan electrical device:wires attached {') to two portable generators. MacReady appears to be in- ljecting something into empty Contact capsules. The men iwork feverishly. '- Nauls rushes in with another box of dynamite.

Nauls begins cutting the wicks off the dynamite.

The wind belts into the roofing overhead. Garry sets the wiring to the main doorway. llacReadybegins blocking off one of the other entrances with a large computer.

They block off a door with two heavy electrical games.

CO:lTINUED

sp #00477 109

227 CONTI:IUED 227

l1ACREADY

( (continuing;

to Sanchez) You and Nauls got to block off the west side bunks, the mess hall and the kitchen.

(

!AC READY Chance we got to take. l'/egot to force him to come down the east side to the door we got rigged.

Nauls starts lacing his skates.

Sanchez and Nauls start to leave.

l1ACREADY (continuing) ... Hold it.

He dispenses the capsules.

l!ACREADY (continuing) Sodium cyanide. ileplace them between our cheeks and gums ... This Thing can't imitate anything that's dead.

CONTillUED

mm #00477 110

A grim silence.

CUT TO

Sanchez and Nauls inch their way through.

MacReady rips linen, soaks the strips in gas, and stuffs them in the 11olotov bottles. Garry tests the current on the door. Popping, sparks, smoke.

Nauls pushes a stove, reinforcing a locked door. Five yards away, Sanchez maneuvers the refrigerator in front of another outlet.

Sanchez hears a quiet purring, bubbling sound. He turns to Nauls.

A blaring. They whip their attention to stereo speakers on either side of the kitchen. Rock music screams out. Top volume.

The same loud music. MacReady and Garry look to the three speakers attached to the walls. MacReady yells his incom- prehension to Garry. Garry tries to respond. Their voices drowned out.

mm #00477 111

Empty. Another of the stereo speakers that line the walls, thunders.

[ Nauls, in sudden realization, screams over the din and points back in the direction they came.

MacReady, cursing, rips the speakers off the wall.

The music is now subdued within the room, but continues booming throughout the camp. Nauls' scream can be barely heard.

at the top of his lungs ••••

mm #00477 112

A sharp, red, talon-like fingernail, pierces the top of the door above Nauls' head, It saws downward, quickly. Black goo drips through the slit. The sawing obscured by the music.

Sanchez, eyes bulging, points. Nauls turns. A claw rips through the wood. Nauls dives to the floor.

In the opposite direction, behind Sanchez, another arm splits through the door and the refrigerator, extends itself five feet and yanks Sanchez back as if he were a puppet.

Sanchez struggles, looking imploringly at Nauls. He bites down on his capsule. Nauls takes off like a speed skater.

The sound of the screeching over the music.

He opens the door. Looks down the hall. No one. The speakers -- blaring music.

237 NAULS 237

Full speed down the maze. Left. Right. Totally reckless. He hits a straighaway.

238 SANCHEZ'S BODY 238

from out of nowhere, blasts through the hallway wall, directly in Nauls' path. A thick arm pins the body to the other side. Unable to stop, Nauls skids out of control, banging into the sides of the wall, his cyanide capsule flying out of his mouth.

Whatever the rest of it is, it starts to crumble through the wall. Nauls dives over the arm, somersaults to his feet and takes off.

239 INT, MAIN HALL 239

MacReady, running, spots Nauls careening out of a turn, heading toward him.

mm #00477 113

Nauls blazes by him. MacReady hears the snarls and screeches heading his way. He streaks after Nauls.

[

They make it in. Lock the door .•. MacReady tries to catch his breath. Nauls shakes, pants.

Garry fiddles with the two generators.

The loud music in the compound is turned off. MacReady shuts off the lights. The men spread out. Silence.

CUT TO

241 INT, REC ROOM 241

The men watch all the doors. Dead silence. Dark. Whispers.

mw #00477 114

The sound of a door opening and closing. Far off. Another creaking door is opened. A rustling. Still far off. MacReady and Nauls spread further apart.

The soft bubbling, cooling sound. A slight scratch at the door. Garry's hand tightens around the generator switches. The scratching gets more pronounced. MacReady cautions Garry with a whisper.

The door begins to pound from the outside; Nauls and MacReady light two cocktails each.

The door booms. The room's foundations shake. The ceiling quivers. The gas bombs are cocked.

From the roof The Thing roars down into their midst. Stunned, the men stumble back. MacReady throws his gas bomb. Nauls the same.

For a moment it stands silhouetted in flame. Enormous. Grotesque.

Garry bolts for the main door. The Thing's tongue spirals from his mouth and spears him. The good two-thirds of its body follows its tongue and engulfs Garry by the door.

tv i;004 77 115

Another leg slaps Nauls to thegrourid. llacReady dodges still another appendage, dives on the generators and throws the switch.

The current rips through the door. Garry dies instantly.

One of The Thing's talons, still caught in the door, sends it writhing in pain. It literally rips the door from its latchings and pounds it to the ground, trying to shake it loose. Nauls, hobbles, scrambles, out of the opening.

MacReady dives through the window and out into the storm.

CUT TO

the distant sound of a motor. Nauls, battered and bloodied, his leg apparently broken, crawls along the ground. Another sound, a bubbling and gurgling is heard well to his rear. But closing.

The terror forces him to drag faster, oblivious to the pain.

He reaches the bathroom stall. Crawls in. Locks it. The gurgling nears. Leaning on the toilet seat, he looks about himself, frantically.

The Presence pauses at the door. A scratching. Nauls' paws, rips at a cracked and weathered slab of wood, cutting his fingers as he tries to break it off the siding.

A strong blow begins to breach the stall door. Nauls finally unhinges the piece of wood, brings the jagged end to one side of his throat and rips ....

The motorized rumbling nears. The wall seems to exolode. The tractor barrels into the lab. Its enormous shovel scooper tearing half the room to shreds.

MacReady drives. His eyes glint like a wild man's; he looks stark raving mad.

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His frostbite, now in an advanced stage, resembles black war paint. He clenches a stick of dynamite between his teeth, like a buccaneer's cutlass. Two large, compressed air tanks have been tied together at the top and are draped around his neck. They are marked -- HYDROGEN. They are used for the weather balloons.

He pulls the tractor to a stop, yanks the stick from his mouth, grins and bellows.

MacReady guns it through the next wall and into the infirmary. Medical equipment goes flying. The machine is powerful; the prefabricated walls buckling under its force.

A trail of viscous yellow ooze leads around a bend.

Boom.

MacReady rams into the mess hall, sweeping away tables, chairs. He sings out loud the lyrics of some Mexican song. All the while he keeps his eyes on everything.

Through the kitchen. The foundation crumbling. He sings on.

245 NARROW PASSAGEWAY 245

Gurgling and hissing. A taloned arm slinks around a corner in retreat.

246 MAC READY .246

plows through several more rooms before ending up in the pub area. He backs it up and retrieves a bottle of liquor from the bar.

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CONTINUED 246

He takes a drink and rams through another wall.

The tractor blazes into the rec room. MacReady parks it directly in front of the hole in the roof, created by The Thing when it surprised them earlier.

He pulls off the heavy hydrogen tanks and drapes them over the tractor. As he talks his eyes move like a hawk passing from roof, to doorways, to rubble.

Nind and ice bristle through the gaping holes, stinging MacReady with the cold. He winces at his mittenless, blackened fingers.

He takes a swig from his bottle.

A slight tremor perks his eyes and ears. He looks up through the hole, then around. He lights a lighter and cups it in his hand near the stick of dynamite in his lap.

A stronger tremor. The adrenalin pumps.

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The floor shakes. MacReady stands, his head whirling around the room.

The tractor inches up off the ground. MacReady falls forward and looks straight down through the chassis and into the vile and grinning face below. A claw flashes up, splitting the steering wheel but missing his face.

He depresses the ignition, bolting the tractor forward ten feet. He jumps, hanging onto the edge of the hole in the ceiling. The Thing's face and arms burst through the metal plating of the tractor. The reaching claws just miss him as he pulls himself through.

He lights his fuse, drops in the stick, turns and runs.

Half of The Thing's grotesque and angular torso bolts up through the hole, howling in fury. An appendage springs out- ward and winds around MacReady's jacket, hissing like acid into the fabric.

An immense explosion. The hydrogen tanks send a white fire- ball fifty feet into the sky. The Thing's body disintegrating almost immediately.

The force of the blast sweeps MacReady off the roof. He and the severed appendage crash to the hard ice in flames. He rolls over and over trying to smother the fire and tear off the insidious limb.

CUT TO

A ruin. One half of it burnt almost to the ground. MacReady wears a thick blanket which covers him like a shroud, from his shoulders to the floor.

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He walks bent over and in much pain, trying to blunt patches

CUT TO

Mostly untouched by the fire, but like most of the rest of the camp, exposed to the outside. The storm has settled considerably.

251 CLOSE ON MAC READY 251

lighting a cigar. His hands are heavily wrapped. He pours himself a drink.

A puffy white hand, missing two fingers, enters the frame and whirls a startled MacReady around. It is Childs.

White and black blotches cover his frostbitten face.

He looks as weak as MacReady. A beat.

Both men speak guardedly and stare at each other suspiciously.

Childs steps back, keeping his distance. He·indicates his puffy white hand.

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MacReady, carrying the bottle and glass, limps over and sits l down behind a gaming table. There is a chess set and several decks of cards. The two men continue to eye each other.

( So you're the only one who made it.

MacReady begins setting up a nonelectronic chessboard.

MAC READY

r Not the only one.

•· MACREADY Maybe we shouldn't.

MacReady puffs on his cigar. He relieves a small blowtorch from under the table and places it beside him on top.

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They regard each other for a moment. Childs painfully sits down across from MacReady.

MacReady grins and hands the bottle to Childs. Childs smiles back and takes a healthy swig.

The fires smolder on. Bright embers dance in the blackness pushed by the soughing wind.